Thursday, November 29, 2012

In an earlier post I described the first three paragraphs of
Priscilla Dowell’s will which was written the 23rd day of September,
1859 and probated early in 1863. In it she first directed that her debts be
paid and provided instructions for finding new homes for her slaves.

Then she turned to bequests for her European-American family
members:

Bequests to Family Members

in Priscilla Dowell’s Will

Family
Member

Relationship

Bequest

Rebecca McKinney

Sister

$1.00

Sally Dowell

Sister

$1.00

Elizabeth Dowell

Sister

$1.00

Household and kitchen furniture

Priscilla Jacks

Niece

$1.00

Nancy Rogers

Niece

$100.00

Heirs of Nancy Rogers and their ages in
1860:

Grand-Nieces and Grand Nephews

$2,400.00 plus interest

“equally to the education of said
children and in the amount to the age of 21 years or marriage of said heirs”

Hester Rogers

James G Rogers

Sarah Rogers

Emma C Rogers

Nancy Rogers

John Rogers

12

11

8

6

4

1

Phillip Dowell

Brother

One third of residue of estate

John Dowell

Brother

One third of residue of estate

Heirs of Peter Dowell (deceased)

Brother

One third of residue of estate

In the 1860 US Census those heirs of Nancy Rogers were
living in the Lower Division, Wilkes, North
Carolina and used the Elkin Post Office. Nancy’s mother who was also Priscilla
Dowell’s sister, Rebecca MCCINNY/MCKINNEY, age 76 was also living in the Rogers
household. Rebecca, who was about six years older than Priscilla, really was born
in Maryland. Rebecca, her daughter Nancy and Nancy’s husband R.W. Rogers were
all listed as not being able to read and write. Their daughter Hester and son
James were listed has having attended school in the year.

After seeing this information I went back to the census
record for Priscilla. Sorry cousin Julie. It clearly shows that Priscilla could
not read or write either. I guess the early 19th century Dowells in
our family line did not educate their daughters—at least this one family did
not.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Priscilla Dowell was part of the Maryland Dowell family who
migrated to North Carolina right after the Revolutionary War. Priscilla’s
grandfather, Peter Dowell, Sr., and five sons settled in what was then Rowan
County in the 1780s. Prior to 1770 Rowan County included what today are 20
counties in the northwest part of North Carolina as well as a big part of
present day Tennessee. Wilkes County was formed in 1777.

Priscilla’s great-grandfather, Philip Dowell, “appeared” in
Southern Maryland in the 1690s as a fully functioning tobacco planter. Although
several researchers who have published pedigree charts of the Internet claim to
know who Philip’s father is, they don’t agree and I have yet to see proof that
support any of their claims. In 1702 Philip married Mary Tydings, the daughter
of Richard Tydings—a former indentured servant who had come to Maryland from
England in the middle of the 17th century and subsequently had acquired
substantial land holdings. Although Philip, or his father, is assumed to have
come from the British Isles, the exact origin of the Maryland Dowells is
unknown.

Through analysis of the Y-chromosomes of living descendants
of three of Philip’s sons, we have established exactly what the results of a
111 marker DNA test would be if Philip himself could be tested. These results
have established that the Dowells who appeared in Virginia in the first half of
the 18th century have not shared a common paternal ancestor with the
Maryland Dowells for at least 3,000 years—long before surnames were
introduced in Europe. Neither of these groups have DNA results that come close
to matching the handful of Dowells currently living on the other side of the
Atlantic who have been tested to date.

Priscilla’s grandparents, Peter, Sr., and Elizabeth (Owens)
Dowell moved from Southern Maryland to Frederick County Maryland about a decade
before the Revolutionary War. That area is now part of present day Montgomery
County in the western suburbs of the District of Columbia. Her father, Philip,
Sr., and four of his brothers played various roles in the Revolution. Whether
it was because of war related travel to Carolina or the land bounties offered
to veterans after the war, Peter, Sr., and five of his sons moved to Rowan
County in the 1780s. My 4th great-grandfather Richard Dowell was one
of these sons and Priscilla’s father Philip was another.

What little we know about Priscilla’s early life suggests
she was probably the youngest of nine or ten children of Philip, Sr., and
Priscilla “Nacky” (Owen) Dowell. Her age in 1860 according to the census was 70
and her birthplace was Maryland. One of these is probably incorrect. Priscilla’s
family was probably getting established in North Carolina by 1790. Clearly many
of her older siblings were born in Maryland but it is unlikely that Priscilla
was born there. As I reported in an earlier post, Priscilla could not sign her
own name to her 1859 will. Was this because she was illiterate? Were the Philip
Dowell’s daughters not given even the most basic education although they came
from a family of property? One cousin of mine has speculated about whether
Priscilla could have suffered a stroke or other infirmity that prevented her
from signing her name more elaborately that simply making “her mark”.

I have yet to discover additional circumstances of Priscilla’s
life prior to 1859 with the exception of a bequest made to her by her father in
his 1823 will. In that document Philip gave her “a Negro Girl by the name of
Juda, and the Heirs of her Body.” Other enslaved persons transferred by this
will to various of Priscilla’s immediate family carried the names that appear
to be Siney, Lydia, Ginny, Catey, Timssey, Jacob, Joe, David, Richman, and
Henderson. Is it mere coincidence that some of these names reappear a
generation later?

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Priscilla Dowell, to whom your were introduced in my Blog post on
November 21st appears in the US Census in 1860. Although the census
gives her birthplace as Maryland, this may not be correct. Most of her older
siblings were born in Maryland; but most of her extended family was already in
Rowan County, NC during the middle 1780s.

It is interesting that she is shown as owning no real estate but having
personal property valued at $5,500. I am assuming that most of this $5,500 was
the value of her 5 slaves.

The 1860 Slave Census was taken less than a year after Priscilla wrote
her will. In that census Priscilla was listed as owning the following slaves:

Therefore it is reasonable to assume that the five slaves enumerated
were the same as the five listed in her will. If that is correct we can put
this information together with the names listed in Priscilla’s will:

Name

Age

Gender

Race

Jude

46

Female

Black

Henderson

18

Male

Black

Payton

16

Male

Black

Eloisa

12

Female

Black

Jo

1

Male

Black

It seems ironic that the 1850 and 1860 Slave Censuses were conducted so
that each slave could be counted as two-thirds of a person in the apportionment
of seats allowed to each state in the US House of Representatives. Priscilla
Dowell was willing for the Executor of her estate to select good homes in this neighborhood
and to sell her slaves at two-thirds their book value. Was this a coincidence?
Was it customary? Was it a good faith gesture on the part of Priscilla to find
humane placements for her slaves?

If Priscilla had no real estate of her own, these slaves were either
household slaves or were loaned out to neighbors who had land to plant.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Last night I began to see results from the National
Geographic Society’s Geno 2.0 project show up. So far only mitochondrial
(maternal line) results are being displayed. My haplogroup was confirmed as
H13a1a1 just as the Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) lab had shown a few years ago and 23andMe had confirmed
three years ago. The lab testing for this new project is being conducted by
FTDNA at their Houston headquarters.

The migration maps are really cool. National Geographic has
always produced visually appealing and informative maps. Below is the HeatMap
for Haplotype H. As you may know this is the most the most common one for Western Europe.

While this map is useful, I wish it were more specific and could break the results down at least to the H13 level. You can find out more about this new test atthe project websitefor the Genographic
Project which is being billed as “Geno 2.0: The Greatest Journey Ever Told: Your Story. Our Story. The
Human Story.”

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

I am in the process of transcribing the will of a first
cousin – five times removed that she wrote on the eve of the US Civil War. It
was probated at the height of the war in January 1863 in Wilkes County, North
Carolina. When this will is combined with other contemporary documents, an
interesting story begins to emerge. Part of it I will share today. I plan to
add more as I am able to uncover and organize it.

It would appear that Priscilla Dowell was an unmarried woman
of about 70 years of age. She is often reported to have been born in Maryland. This birth location would be correct for her
older siblings. However, if she was born about 1790, it is likely that she was
born soon after her family arrived in North Carolina. Her grandparents and
several uncles and aunts moved from Maryland right after the Revolutionary War.
They were drawn there in part because of land grants being offered to soldiers
in partial compensation for their service.

Apparently Priscilla was concerned about providing for her slaves
because she took up their disposition right after she had directed that her
just debts be paid. Bequests to her family members came later in the document.
She seemed to have the best interest of her slaves in mind. While she stopped
short of offering them their freedom, she appeared to be seeking a humane
environment for them.

Item 2nd
In order to secure a good home in this neighborhood for my negro woman
Jude and her child Jo also the increase of said negro woman I will and desire
that my Executor hereafter appointed permit said woman to select a home for
herself and child or children and provided said person selected will pay two
thirds of the valuation of said negroes at trader’s prices then my Executer to
execute Bill of Sale and should it not suit the person selected by said negro
woman to purchase or pay said prices, them
my Executor to select a home himself for said negro woman and child or
children, provided nevertheless that it is my will and desire that said woman
and child or children be sold for two thirds of the valuation of said woman and
___ children.

Item 3rd I will and desire that my Executer sell
my two negro boys Henderson and Peyton and my negro Girl, Eloisa to James Guyn
for the rates of two thirds of their valuation at trading prices, and should it
not ___ said James Guyn to take said negroes Henderson Peyton and Eloisa at
said rates; then I desire my Executor hereafter appointed to select good homes
in this neighborhood at a place or places when said sales of two thirds of
traders prices can be obtained.

I will add information from census records that expand on this will in a subsequent post. I will leave you to judge whether Priscilla's views about her slaves were enlightened for her era. She was apparently illiterate as she signed her will with "her mark".

I am in touch with descendants of Henderson, above, who took the surname Dowell. Some of them still live in the Wilkes County area and their family has used several given names down to the present generation that parallel the given names used by Priscilla's family. This challenges genealogists as they attempt to properly record these two families who share a surname as well as a history.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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